Sheet-delivery mechanism.



Patented J uly 20 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

M. A. DROITCOUR.

SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13. I914.

N O 1 0 n \I .i l l M. A. DROITCOUR.

SHEET DELIVERY MECHANlSM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13. 1914.

Patented July 20, 1915.

3 SHEETS-:HEET 2 M. A. DRUITCOURT SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13. 1914.

1,146,930. I Patented July 20, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Specification of Letters Patent.

MICHAEL ANDREW DROITCOUR, OF HAYWOOD, ILLINOIS.

SHEET-DELIVERY MECHANISM.

Original application filed September '13, 1913, Serial No. 789,591. Divided and this application fi led April 13,1914. Serial No. 831,363. g a

To all whom it may, concern: a

7 Be it known that I, MICHAEL A. Dizorrcoun, citizen of the United States, residing at Maywood, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Delivery Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification;

My invention relates to sheet feeding machines and more particularly to the table elevating mec cation being a division of my original application Serial No. 789,591, filed September 13,

In accordance with one feature of my invention, I provide means for elevating the support fora pile ofsheets ofpa er to bev fed to a. printing press or the mac ine that is to operate thereupon.

accordance with another feature of the invention I provide a' mechanical sheet lifter for lifting the bottom sheets to prepare them for the feeding operation when-the pile of sheets has been sufliciently reduced to permit of the operation ,of this mechanical sheet lifter.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side view partially in section illustrating the machine of the iglveiition; Fig. 2 is a plan view of equipment illustrated Fig.1; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation on line 4 {1 of Fi 2; Fig. 5 is a sectional yiew on line 5 5 of ig. 2; Fig.6 is aview' on a larger scale-of a part of the structure as it appears in Fig.

1;. and Fig. 7 is-a plan view of structural portions illustrated in Fig. 6 on line 7 7.

' positioned stretches Like parts. are indicated by similar char actors of reference throughout the diiferent The sheets, such as sheets of paper, are piled at 2 upon a supporting or .3 resting atits side margins upon the angle irons 4: carried upon symmetrically of vertically disposed endless sprocket chains 5 which. pass over i for the reduction anismthereof, my present appli-' table 'or platdriven by t Worm wheels 10. Thesupport 3 is to be elevated from time to time to compensate in, the thickness of the pile as the sheets are fed from'the pile. In the instrumentalities which enter into the step by step upward adjustment of the paper support 3 there is included a cam-support 11 which is rotated at a uniform speed, this cam support 11 carrying a cam roller v12 concentric with the axis of rotation of the cam support 11' and working back and forth w1thin the elongated slot 13 of a lever 14 A link 16 connects'an fulcrumed at 15. intermediate portion of the lever 14 (Figs; 1,

2, 6 andfi) with one end of the bell crank 17 upon whose other end a pawl carrier 18 is pivotally mounted, a spring 19 pressing this pawl carrier'upwardly. The pawl 20 is pivotally mounted upon the pawl carrier, the

' Patented July 20, 191 5.

tail of the pawl 20 being upwardly pressed by a spring 21 whereby the, pawl is pressed downwardly, the extent to which the pawl 20 may be downwardly pressed by the spring 21 being llmited by engagenrent of the tail with the shaft 23 upon which the pawl support 18 is pivotally mounted. The spring 19 is, Whenunopposed, sufficiently strong not only to hold the pawl support 18 in that position in which the pawl 20 will be normally out 'of engagement with a ratchet wheel 24, .but is also 'sufliciently strong to support a normally idle=depressor 25 normally free to oscillate about its pivotal .mountiug 26. Thisdepressor carries a foot 27 near its outer end, this foot being normally out of alinement with a depressmg finger 28 constituting one branch of a bell crankrwhose' companion branch is articulated to'a link 29 having its upper end conwith the outer end of a'lever 30 fixed. with respect to a shaft 31 (Figs. 3 and 5). Anothe lever'32 is also fixed with respect to the/shaft nected 31, this lever 32 being connected by a link 33 with a lever Fi 3) that is fixed upon a sha miter gear 36 is splined upon the shaft 35'and is in meshwith a; companion miter gear-37 upon which, a finger 38 is fixedly secured.

tained' in engagement with the paper by means of a spring .39 secured at the upper end of a lever 40 fixed upon the shaft 35. As thepile of paper is reduced the spring The lower and free end of this finger rests upon the paper at 2, being main- 34 (seefparticularly 35 p mediatelyb l I 25 carrier 18 so as to bring 35 ratchet Wheel 24 is cam roller 43 upon the upper end of a cam 44 fixed upon the shaft 35 whereby the finger 38 is raised each time from the pile, the cam'41 thereafter operating to permit the spring 39 to reapply the finger 38 to the paper to hold the sheet immaintain it upon its pile until the time for feeding it has arrived. When the pile has been so far reduced in height to require its bodily. elevation to enable the feeding of the sheets therefrom properly to continue, the spring 39 is permitted by the finger 38 so far to turn the shaft 35 that this shaft will, through the intermediation of connections intervening between it and the finger 28, bring thisfinger into alinement with the foot 27 so as to hold the outer end of the depressor in a lowered position, in which position the lower curved surface of the depressor 25 will engage and depress the pawl the pawl 20 into engagement with the ratchet 24 toturn the same say, the space of five teeth. The pawl carrier 18 engages the under side. of the depressor 25 to cause efiective, this rise and, fall being prevented by the finger 28 when the pile of sheets has been reduced owing to the engagement of this finger 28 with the foot 27. As the the worms 9 upon the ends of the shaft 8 will turn the worm wheels 10 in a direction that will elevate the platform 3 to restore the upper surface of the pile of paper to 40 its initial level. When the platform 3 has thus been elevated the finger 38 operates, in

' a manner now obvious, to prevent the finger 28 from coming into alinement with the 'foot27, such alinement being avoided until the pile has again been reduced to that point where it should again be elevated. The

finger 28 is thus kept in constant oscillation through the direct agency of the cam elements 41 and 43, the extent of this oscillation being determined by the finger 38.

whereby such oscillation is not effective for the purpose of raising the pile of paper until the'ran'ge of oscillation has been so increased-as to brin the elements 27 and 28 into alinement. thus employ constantly moving parts which are normally ineflfective but which are readily made efiective when the time arrives for raising the pile, the entire'construction beingsuch that a delicate and sensitive control of the elevation of the paper is secured. Inpractice I havebeen abld tosecure reelevation of the pile of paper each time it has been decreased one-sixtyfourth of an inch in height. When all of the paper has been fed from the platform 3 a sheet is to be fed the sheet being fed so 'as to this" depressor normally 30 to rise and fall when the depressor is infixed upon the shaft 8 further elevation of the platform is prevented owing to the fact that the finger 38 can .no longer descend sufficiently far with respect to the platform 3 whereby the finger 28 cannot thereafter engage the foot 27 for the purpose of elevating the platform 3. The attendants will thereupon remove the support orplatform 3 from which the pile of paper has been fed and will place a newloaded support 3 upon another pair of angle irons 4.

The uppermost sheets of drawn from the pile and passed over the driven conveyer rollers 45 which convey the paper to the machine that is to operate thereupon. The bracket 48 upon which paper are miter gear 37 is mounted carries a support a 47 for spring fingers 48 which press downwardly upon the ile with slight pressure. While the spring gers 48 are in constant engagement with the paper the finger 38 which presses more heavily upon the paper should be removed from engagement therewith when the top sheet' wardly, a result which is effected bythe is being fed forproper inter-related cam elements 41 and 43. The pawl 20 is moved forward only when the finger 38 is in engagement with the paper, and of course is ineffective until the finger 38 has been brought into alinement with the foot 27 in the manner previ ously described. a

In order to ena leme to feed all the sheets from the pile of paper a spring or springs 49 are mounted upon and directly over the board 3 at the forward end thereof to underlie the portion of the pile of paper that overlies the normally depressed to the level of the board by the weight of the pile but when thepile sheets the lower sheets of paper are well port. 3 by the forward end of the spring properly to bring such sheets of paper within operating range of the sheet removing mechanism, a result which is obtained without the necessity of a special elevation of the board 3. The normal level of the upper sheet of paper may be determined by shifting the foot 27 back and forth as by means of an adjusting device 50. A pair of racks 51 are provided for coiiperation with a hand operating gearing 52, operated by hand wheel 53 for the purpose of moving the spring 46 longitudinally of themachine to adapt it to differing lengths of paper. I y 3 While I have herein shown and particularly described the preferred embodiment of my invention I do not w1sh tobe limited to the precise details of constructlon shown as board, this spring being elevated with reference to the board or supclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent the 'following:

1. A sheet feeder including a support for a pile of sheets and an upwardly moving mechanical sheet lifter for lifting the bottom sheets with reference to the support and located to underlie the portion of the pile of sheets that directly overlies the sup port to prepare the sheets for the feeding operation when the pile of sheets has been sufiiciently reduced.

2. A sheet feeder including a support for the pile of sheets and spring mechanism for lifting the bottom sheets with reference to the support and located to underlie the portion of the pile of sheets that directly overlies the support to prepare the sheets for the feeding operation when the pile of sheets has been sufficiently reduced.

8. A sheet feeder including a support for a pile of sheets; and mechanism for elevating said support to compensate for reduction in the height of the pile of sheets supported thereby, said mechanism including a ratchet wheel through which lifting effort is exerted upon the support, nisin for actuating the ratchet wheel and maintained in normally ineffective oscillapawl mechation by the mechanism of 'the feeder, a depressor engaging the pawl mechanism and being normally ineffective, said pawl mechanism normally operating to cause the depressor, when ineffective, to rise and fall, means normally out of efiective engagement with the depressor and provided for holding the depressor from rising then to effect the elevation of the pile support, a finger engaging the pile of sheets at its top and following the pile of sheets as it decreases in height, and connections intervening between said finger and the means for holding the depressor from rising and operated by the finger to position this means to prevent the depressor from rising when the pile has been reduced in height to a point where its elevation is to be reifected, said depressor when prevented from rising operating to bring the pawl into cooperative relation with the ratchet.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 28 day of Feby., A. D. 1914.

MICHAEL ANDREW DROITCOUR.

\Vitnesses:

O. L. BOTKIN, G. M. KRoUsE. 

